The notion of having better meetings has probably been brought up in a few conversations within your organization. This post is meant to help us all remind ourselves and our teams of how to improve our meeting process and execution, so we all get more of what we want out of our day, our work and our ability to serve our clients. If at this point, you are thinking, “No, I really haven’t thought we needed to improve”… read on.

Have you ever been invited to a meeting and had no idea what the meeting was for or how you should prepare?

Have you ever been invited to a meeting but didn’t quite know why you were on the invite list?

Have you been in a meeting where you were wondering what the goal was, and how you would know when to leave the room?

Have you ever been in a meeting where you were wondering what someone else’s role was in the conversation?

Have you ever had a meeting where you left feeling dissatisfied and confused and with the dread that nothing would happen as a result of the meeting?

Likely the answer to one or all of these questions is yes. We likely all want better meetings. We want better conversations. We want to know that our time in meetings is well spent and that there are goals, outcomes and future actions that will be taken based on those meetings. We want to know that the meetings are contributing to our one true mission – to provide high quality service and technology solutions our clients.

If you are like me, this is what your inbox looks like every 15 minutes. 50% or more of your emails are from solicitors or content producers you have opted into at one time or another (including ours).

For marketers in enterprise level positions, it has become increasingly difficult to keep up with internal email, let alone the flood of outside content.

How do you decide on what to keep or toss? How do you know which ones you unsubscribe from? Or, how do you know who to seek out?

There are a few we read daily. These websites often provide fresh takes and best practices relative solutions CMOs need to inform their strategy and tactical marketing plans.